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Technobuddy: Looking into the future of cyberthreats

Bill Husted, Special to Ventura County Star
Published 8:30 p.m. PT March 21, 2018

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Kim Komando has tips on keeping the content of your cell phone secure from snooping.

I have a buddy — a nice guy in all other respects — who delights in relaying bad news. Nothing cheers him more than calling to tell of someone losing his job, financial problems — you name it. If it’s bad, he is eager to spread the word.

I’ll steal a page from his book today. I’m here to tell you that no matter how bad things seem now, they’re going to get much worse. Sure, you’re worn out from dealing with “phishing” scams, spam email, viruses, spyware and home network problems. But over the next year or so, it’s likely these will become the good old days of computing.

There are dozens of threats — not necessarily new ones, but scams and hacker tricks that are getting more common and more sophisticated as the crooks refine their methods. In a way, it’s like that old spy vs. counterspy thing. As the companies that make security software close holes, the crooks bore new ones with the precision of a carpenter bee.

Here’s a look at what could be ahead:

Spam

Problem: Not only will you continue to get junk emails; it’s likely you won’t be able to block them all. Spammers have been at this for a long time and the sophistication is growing by leaps and bounds. You’ll also find that some of the spam has a hidden payload that can do various things, including taking you to websites you don’t want to visit, peeking at your personal information and even using your computer to send out even more spam.

Solution: Make sure you have both a good firewall to keep hackers out, and, since many of these efforts to take over your computer come in the form of custom-made viruses, keep your antivirus program up to date.

Blackmail

Problem: For a few years now, hackers have been attacking home computers with programs that encrypt all the data on the hard disk. So everything you have stored is still there but it’s impossible to get at unless you know the code.

Solution: This is why it’s smart to have more than one backup copy of your data. The most recent backup — if you automate the process — could be one that backs up the encrypted material. I like to have backups that go back in time a bit. Perhaps three versions — two made on earlier dates. That can also be handy if some other bug infects your computer and gets included in the most current backup.

Cellphones

Problem: Smartphones are great. But now that even lesser telephones are capable of containing a lot of data, hackers are targeting cellphones. And since many of us use the phone at a Wi-Fi hot spot, there’s a real danger — in fact, it happened to my wife a few years ago — of someone tapping into the information you send.

Solution: With any luck, much of this work will be done by your provider. But when is the last time you’ve been lucky with technology? My guess is that the day is coming when you will have to spend time and money to protect your telephone against risks.

The Macintosh

Problem: The neat thing about a Mac has been that it has seemed virtually immune to viruses, spyware and hacking. That’s made Macs more popular, since all of us are tired of worrying about this stuff. But the Mac is becoming more popular with hackers, too. Companies such as Norton are beginning to see more security threats that affect the Mac. Ironically, the success of the iPod and Mac Mini have raised the visibility of the Macintosh platform high enough that it’s become a more attractive target for the bad guys.

Solution: OK, here is a time when I don’t follow my own advice. I do not use anti-malware software on our Mac. But it wouldn’t be crazy to do that.

Now that I’ve delivered the bad news, let me tell you the really bad news:

The worst threats of the next year or so will be ones I haven’t mentioned. That because new threats are being created daily. We’ll find out about those problems the hard way.